Mujeeb Zadran, the young mystery spinner from Afghanistan’s Khost region, will make his maiden appearance in 2018 VIVO IPL in Apr 2018 with Kings XI Punjab, who bought him in the IPL auctions for INR 4 Crores.
Mujeeb started training and playing cricket at the age of 12 in an Academy set up by Afghanistan’s National cricketer and Mujeeb’s cousin, Noor Ali Zadran. He joined Khost Province Academy afterwards.
Mujeeb recently revealed to Indian daily, Midday, that he used to watch YouTube videos of Sunil Narine & Ajantha Mendis to learn the art of gripping the ball during his delivery stride.
“I started playing a lot of tape ball cricket. While bowling with that ball, I struggled to grip it, so I started flicking the ball with my fingers. Then, I watched some youtube videos of Sunil Narine and Ajantha Mendis and learnt how they gripped the ball and flicked it with their middle finger. I started doing that and initially did not put power behind it.
It would be like a flighted off-spinner, but lowly, and after a lot practice, I eventually began to get some power behind my deliveries and was able to flick it harder” he said. For his full interview, click here.
Mujeeb’s skills have captured the attention of global Cricketing fraternity, as he has displayed during the ICC U19 World Cup in Jan 2018 and the recently concluded ACC U19 Asia Cup in 2017.
